Configure Slave DNS Server on Debian 9 / Ubuntu 16.04

DNS server can be configured to act as a master or a slave to serve the DNS request. When the DNS is configured as a slave, it gets the copy of zone data from the master by using zone transfer method and keep that in a cache for a particular period for serving DNS queries.

Environment

itzgeek.local

Master

ns1.itzgeek.local

192.168.1.10

Acts a master server

Slave

ns2.itzgeek.local

192.168.1.20

Acts a slave server. Takes care of DNS requests when the master server goes down

ns1.itzgeek.local is already configured as the master for the itzgeek.local domain.

Zone Modification

While modifying records of any zone on the master server, make sure you update the serial number to some random number, higher than current. Also, run the following command on the master server to reload the zone.